Photos from South India

Before coming to India, I used to segment my trip into each country I visited. I thought about them as individual units of culture and modes of travel. Then I entered India on March 11 and every new city I went to seemed to turn into a completely different journey from the last.

I'm travelling with an Indian-born friend currently living in the States and we decided to split the itinerary planning by city. We're spending two weeks together in South India. I booked the first few days, he booked the next four. The differences in our choices of hotel, transportation, and site-seeing agenda were stark. I put us in a hostel that cost $4 a day. To get around, I opted to take the bus which usually cost less than $5 per ride across cities. On the other hand, my friend put us into a 5-star beachfront resort which had three swimming pools on the premises. He claims he only booked such luxury places because he assumed I wanted these things (based on the fact that all Americans are spoiled brats and other such indicators).

As bipolar as our itinerary has been, I can definitely say with confidence I've now seen people from all walks of life from the extremely rich to the very poor - poor by Indian standards, mind you. It's been a pretty amazing experience.

Pictures from Pondicherry and Mamallapuram (my section of the itinerary)

Goat herding down the street in Pondicherry

City streets all over India are lined with poo. Pictures like this illustrate just how hard it is to identify what species of animal generated that poo you just stepped in.

Shore temple at Mamallapuram

Five Rathas at sunset

Pictures from Kovalam and Allepey in the state of Kerala (his section of the itinerary)

The front lobby of our luxury resort in Kovalam

The beach next to the resort on which we had dinner and drinks every night

Sailing on the backwaters in Allepey

Pictures from my favorite bus ride so far in India (Allepey to Munnar)

Note, most of these shots were taken from a dangerously fast-moving vehicle driving over precipitous cliffs. They have issues with focus and angle but at least I'm still alive.